Amarillo police identify standoff suspect

Wednesday

Amarillo police have identified the man who spent more than six hours in a southwest Amarillo home in a police standoff Tuesday that followed burglaries under investigation by APD.

The suspect, Cameron Mitchell Denton, 27, of Amarillo was booked into Randall County jail on charges of burglary of a habitation and criminal trespassing, police said.

About 10:10 a.m. Tuesday, officers responded to a series of burglary calls and a burglar alarm in the Puckett neighborhood, police said. When officers, Randall County Sheriff's Office deputies and Department of Public Safety troopers closed in on a suspect in the alley between Danbury Street and Carlton Drive, the man went into the backyard at 3510 Carlton Drive and broke into the home, police said.

Officers set up a perimeter, secured the area and a SWAT unit and APD negotiators arrived to assist about 11 a.m., police said.

SWAT officers deployed tear gas inside the house but did not enter due to concerns that Denton was armed, police said.

Ty Harvey, a plumber with Mays Plumbing and Construction, was working in a home across the street from where Denton was holed up.

"It was intense," he said. "We didn't know from minute to minute what would happen, if there would be bullets buzzing around or what."

About 10:15 a.m., next-door neighbor Isiah Nolan, 19, a city transit worker and mechanic, was asleep and home alone at 3512 Carlton Drive when shouts amplified through police bullhorns woke him.

"I woke up and I heard (police) saying, 'If you're in the house, come out with your hands up!'" he said. "I freaked out."

He opened his front door and spoke with an officer who told Nolan what was happening. The officer told him to stay in his house and stay in the side of the house farthest from the house police had surrounded. Nolan grabbed a family shotgun in case Denton somehow made his way next door, Nolan said.

About 2:30 p.m., SWAT officers evacuated Nolan, he said. He said they quickly escorted him to the end of the block where officers told him to put his hands up, then checked his pockets and patted him down. He said he had been on the phone with his mother Lori Nolan, who also lives at the home, and she had told him before he left that other neighbors had been evacuated.

Isiah Nolan went to work later that afternoon and said when he returned about 9 p.m., he saw his neighbors' front windows were broken and said the blinds had apparently been burned by tear gas canisters. He said the garage door was also heavily damaged.

"The neighbors' house was pretty torn up," he said. "The garage looked like it exploded."

Lori Nolan said vehicles were passing by the neighborhood in droves Wednesday evening. She suspected people were driving by to see the house where the standoff took place.

Isiah Nolan, who said he is an Eagle Scout, said he thinks residents should prepare themselves "for just about anything" in light of the standoff. He also said he thinks it's important for people to keep their wits about them in situations like the one he faced Tuesday.

"I think the main thing is stay calm, don't panic, do what you need to do to keep yourself safe," he said. "I knew my dad had a shotgun, so I went and got that … and I knew to stay away from that side of the house."

About 5 p.m., Denton exited the house unarmed and was taken into custody, police said.

Police are investigating additional residential burglaries, including one reported at 6016 Dreyfuss Road, where a handgun was stolen, and another at 5509 Floyd Ave., where a 2004 Mazda Miata was stolen, police said.

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